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Know anything about the Russian Mafia?

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I am looking for any information or stories you might have on the Russian mafia and their racketeering/torturing/murdering/business idiosyncrasies or tied in cultural traditions. Trying to get an authentic feel for some characters for a novella. Any and everything would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

I'm working with a CIA guy who spent time in poland/russia from 88-99. he has a collection of stories we're fleshing out into a book. the best thing i learned from him regarding the russia mob is that you never meet the principals until you've "detained" one of their messengers. my source was a "private security analyst" for a decidedly western-backed financial concern in moscow. when they were asked by the mob for their protection money, the messengers were beaten and locked up in a basement by these cia guys. then another round of guys comes looking for the last guys, and they are shown the first round of guys, who are alive, but a little rough. these second set of guys are allowed to go, then the boss arrives. now the bargaining starts from the cia guys position of a discount of sorts with the offering of the detained guys as a payment. a few threats are exchanged, then us government credentials are flashed like a cop "flashing tin" - but only after negotiations are stalled, and then they are left alone. the mob is the mob, but the cia and secret service, when off the clock, are generally regarded with respect. when i was asking him about this scenario, he switched into flawless russian as easy as you please, and frankly, scared me to death, while we were sitting in a crowded restaurant in DC having lunch. I can't imagine a basement in moscow...

I'm Romanian, but Russia is not so far away :) What I can tell you about the Russian Mafia is that they have no code of honor. Forget everything you saw in the movies, forget about loyalty and sticking up for the lower casts of society. The Russian Mafia has only one God, and that's "Profit".
Two or three years ago, a man in Romania was arrested because he hired two Russian assassins to kill his wife. They came, knocked at the woman's door, strangled her to death, then left and had a beer in a nearby pub before leaving for the border. They do everything from assassinations to drugs to laundering money, but their main income is from extorsion. They target small businesses that have no high-placed friends and offer them "protection". The Russian Mafia, just like the Romanian and Polish Mafia often organize themselves under the guise of a legitimate business: private security firms or sport gyms, anything that has to do with brute force and muscles. Then, when a new bar opens down the street, they pay a short visit to the owner one day asking for 10 to 15% of their monthly income. If the owner refuses their "help", in the next two days either they smash his windows and cars or they enter the establishment in great number and beat up the customers then run before the police manages to arrive at the scene. The police being on their payroll it is undertsandable that they never get caught.
They are truly ruthless and don't ask too many questions. In my home country they are feared and rarely spend time behind bars.

When I was in college we had an author visit. He had been been a journalist for a number of years before writing non-fiction about the Italian mob. At the time he just published his first novel and it was about the Russian mob. He talked for an hour non-stop about the research he did on the Russian mob and the one thing that will always stand out was that the guy at the top has to follow as strict code. He talks about how one of these "Godfathers" in Toronto was some homeless guy on the street but he was always sought out for advice and commands.

Since I'm a little slow at the whole link posting thing you should google for a wiki article called "Thief in law" about this code.

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